Well, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has just handed down a decision of overwhelming arrogance. Apparently, schools in the Morgan Hill school district may now forbid students from wearing tee shirts with the American flag depicted on them. It’s not clear whether this order only applies to Cinco de Mayo, or whether it will spread to St. Patrick’s Day, Oktoberfest, Bastille Day, and other ethnic multi-cultural celebrations.

“The panel held that school officials did not violate the students’ rights to freedom of expression, due process, or equal protection. The panel held given the history of prior events at the school, including an altercation on campus, it was reasonable for school officials to proceed as though the threat of a potentially violent disturbance was real. The panel held that school officials anticipated violence or substantial disruption of or material interference with school activities, and their response was tailored to the circumstances…

“On Cinco de Mayo in 2009, a year before the events relevant to this appeal, there was an altercation on campus between a group of predominantly Caucasian students and a group of Mexican students.2″

And this footnote tells you everything you need to know about the school district, as well as the 9th Circuit Court:

2We use the ethnic and racial terminology employed by the district court (Caucasian, Hispanic, Mexican). For example, the district court at times referred to students of Mexican origin born in the United States and students born in Mexico collectively as “Mexican.” (emphasis added)

The salient points here for me are:

In order to avoid violence, school districts may punish potential victims of violence rather than the expected perpetrators.

Also, it is now appropriate to refer to children born right here in the United States as Mexicans.

We used to be allowed to fight for our flag. That impulse is deliberately being punished out of us, legislated out of us, bred out of us. How much longer will we be allowed even to sing this:

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

Last year on September 11, the Obama administration sent a clear message to America’s diplomatic corps that it considered the security of our diplomatic posts around the world to be of little importance, and that little to nothing would be done to ensure the safety of our diplomats should anything untoward occur at their posts. Our people in Benghazi paid a terrible price for that.

This week, the Obama administration has sent a similar message to our troops. The message, in essence, is this: we respect the military and its traditions so little that should you be called upon to make the ultimate sacrifice and lay down your life for your nation, we won’t bother to ensure that your grieving loved ones will be able to make the trip to meet your caskets as they arrive back on American soil; and we don’t really care if you can’t afford a funeral.

Even to those wearing rose-colored Obama glasses, it is becoming increasingly clear that there is no honor in this administration. Many of us have known it since the beginning, but since his second term began, this President’s true colors are beginning to shine very brightly indeed. And the colors aren’t pretty.

These, of course, are just two of the most recent in a long series of treacherous, despicable, contemptible, disgraceful, and blackguardly events that this administration has inflicted on the American people and the U. S. Constitution since Obama’s first inauguration. And he will not stop until he and his lackeys are out of office. 2016 can’t come soon enough. And by then it might be too late to save our nation.

In light of these, and the long string of similar events, I will no longer refer to this presidency as the Obama administration; henceforth, the terrible time from January 2009 until January 2017, will be known as The Years of Dishonor. Never has this great country had a more unprincipled person in its highest office. I pray we never will again.

These days, it’s so easy to believe that the country is going to hell in a handbasket. It’s easy to believe this, because we see examples of it all around us: in popular culture, the news media, schools and universities. It’s difficult to avoid the belief that stupidity, ignorance, apathy, and generally joyless existence are the norm, and that we are all doomed to end up living lives of not-so-quiet desperation when that message seems to be shouted from every treetop.

However. there are signs of hope. Quoted below is an excerpt from a homeschooling family’s summer trip across the country in order to study American History:

Having read stories and learned all the facts, having seen pictures of it in books, and after driving almost 1,000 miles, we finally arrived at the Liberty Bell Center. We walked down the corridor towards the bell. Because of our study, my children understood this was not just a bell…it was a symbol of determination by the people of America to preserve and protect their freedom. Our American brothers went to great lengths to hide it from the enemy and rang their bell proudly when the war was over. And through the stories and facts, my kids came to love this bell, this American symbol of freedom, of heart-pounding passion. Like waiting to see an old friend at the airport whom you haven’t seen in a long while, my children were eagerly anticipating their first encounter with “the bell.” I could tell their excitement mounted as they walked briskly to see this symbol in the “flesh”. And then…the waiting was over. There it was. Both of their paces slowed – almost to a stop. They were unaware of the people all around. My four year old son’s jaw dropped. My daughter just stared. Their eyes were fixed…it was real! That was it! It was really real! I don’t mean to sound corny or overly patriotic. This is exactly how it happened. And to be honest, I was amazed at how taken they were with this moment.

As I stood behind them, watching them more than the bell, my eyes blurred. They were looking at the bell, but saw so much more! As a parent, this was a moment frozen in time. They had captured the spirit, felt (if even for a moment) the passion cast into this bell. As the privileged parent of these wonderful little people, their inspired moment has inspired me with further resolve to continue teaching them true American History. Just as we were clamoring for Patriots to fight the embolden British over 230 years ago, so today we search for modern day patriots to preserve the freedoms we hold today. How privileged I feel to have witnessed the birth of two more young patriots on this special day.

Folks, this is our future. All that other stuff? Dreck. Meaningless nonsense intended to dismay and discourage.

It is children like these, raised by hard-working parents who believe fervently in the promise and hope of America, who are our future. There are millions of them growing up right now, being taught exactly what they need to know, being raised as Americans. And when I look at them, my heart swells with pride and I am overwhelmed with gratitude. Because this is our future, yours and mine. Right here. Right now. God bless them all.

In the past week we’ve had some stellar (and dreadful) examples of “one size fits all” rules being broken, and the sheer idiocy and loss of life that can result.

Case in point #1: A small boy nibbles a Pop-Tart, trying to make it look like a mountain. Being a 2nd-grader, it ends up looking not so much like a mountain, but rather somewhat like a gun (photo here, you decide; it looks rather like Idaho to me). Teacher promptly suspends child for two days, because, according to Fox News:

“[A] student used food to make an inappropriate gesture.”

I’ve got yer inappropriate gesture right here, folks.

Case in point #2: A teen who should be hailed as a hero is, of course, suspended from school. The boy and two classmates tackled another student who was pointing a loaded gun at yet another student.

“I think he was really going to shoot him right then and there,” said the suspended student, not identified by WFTX because of safety concerns. “Not taking no pity.”

The student said the suspect, a football player, threatened to shoot a teammate because he had been arguing with his friend…

That’s when, the teen told the station, he and two others tackled the suspect and wrestled the gun away. The next day, all three were suspended.

Case in point #3: In this one, strict adherence to the rules led to the death of an 87-year-old woman. In Bakersfield, CA, an elderly woman collapsed at her retirement home. A staff nurse called 9-1-1 for assistance, and the dispatcher determined that the woman wasn’t breathing and required immediate CPR in order to survive until the ambulance arrives.

[The dispatcher] pleads for the nurse to perform CPR, and after several refusals she starts pleading for her to find a resident, or a gardener, or anyone not employed by the home to get on the phone, take her instructions and help the woman.

“Can we flag someone down in the street and get them to help this lady?” Halvorson says on the call. “Can we flag a stranger down? I bet a stranger would help her.”

Not only did the nurse refuse to give CPR, she also refused to ask anyone else, even outside the home, to assist. As a result, the elderly woman died.

Folks, I just don’t know where to begin here. We as a culture are rapidly losing the ability to think for ourselves, to make the tough choices, to stand up for what is right — see Case in Point#2 for what happens when you actually do the right thing.

Common sense and the ability to do the right thing are being educated out of our children, regulationed out of our professionals, and bred out of our natures.

Society now has so many guidelines and regulations now that inhibit independent thinking, that stifle creativity, that punish good deed doers. That these rules are applied across the board, without thinking, and apparently without either common sense or compassion bodes ill for the future of society.

SooperMexican does a great job of updating the “So God Made a Farmer” clip by Paul Harvey, most recently seen as a truck commercial in last week’s barnburner of a Super Bowl (even though the Pats didn’t play, it was quite a game).